UBS forecasting first quarter profit

Swiss banking giant UBS says it expects to report a net profit of 2.5 billion Swiss francs for the first three months of the year.

UBS says clients, which had been leaving the bank since it was hit hard during the downturn, have been taking their money out at a much slower rate during the quarter than in the previous three months.

The bank reported a net profit of 1.2 billion Swiss francs in the final three months of last year. This represented its first quarterly profit in more than a year.